As I noted earlier, Team Cat includes Anthony Hutcherson, who owns Jungletax Cattery and breeds Bengal Cats and “Toygers” (tiger-striped cats!) Looking for videos of Anthony, I found one in which he displays Bengals (and other cats) on Martha Stewart’s show. To see the video and these gorgeous cats, click on the screenshot below, showing Anthony holding a champion Bengal:
Anthony owns some of the most beautiful domestic cats I’ve ever seen (Bengal cats, of course, derive from hybrids between the domestic cat and the Asian leopard cat, Panthera bengalensis bengalensis). The hybrids are then repeatedly backcrossed, I believe, to domestic cats, selecting for the wild pattern but also the temperament of the domestic cat.
Anthony and some of his Bengals:
A four-week-old Bengal kitten. These cats aren’t cheap: a show cat can run from $1000 to $3500:
A “toyger,” which is apparently a domestic cat whose ancestry involves no crossing to wild species; they are simply selected for their tiger-like pattern:
Rumor has it that at least one of Anthony’s cats will be present this evening. If so, we needn’t say a word: cats will win paws down.
Because of the cat-related event this evening, I have a few photos of cats that fortuitiously appeared during a visit yesterday to the Hispanic Society of America Museum and Library at 158th Street. I met friends there who had come to town to see the Victory of the Felids, and we spent a pleasant hour wandering around the Huntington Mansion (built on land supposedly once owned by nature artist John James Audubon. At any rate, there were cat sculptures and cat-related art on display, and here are some; I see them as auguries for tonight’s debate.
Two cats pwning what looks for all the world like a small tapir.
The entrance of the Museum was flanked by two stone lions, and I posed in front of one. I was told to look haughty like the lion but somehow my expression didn’t come off right. . .
A cat door-knocker from Spain, ca. 16th century. There was a fabulous collection of antique Spanish door knockers in the Museum.
And, for Greg, here is some kind of reptilian door-knocker. I’ll leave him to give a tentative identification.
The museum, having mostly Spanish art from the 16th-18th centuries, was of course full of religious icons. Don’t tell me that thee people saw the Crucifixion and Resurrection, or, indeed, all the Bible stories, only as allegories! Here is one that struck me: the “ecstasy” of some female saint, perhaps Saint Teresa. The crucifix near her nether parts is telling.
A close-up of the face: undoubtedly something orgiastic is going on and these “ecstasies” must certainly represent sexuality subsumed into religion.
Finally, just a touristic shot: One World Trade Center (also known as the “Freedom Tower,” built to replace the two buildings destroyed by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001:
🐼🐾
I like the hair does of the angels.
That is a surreal ecstasy sculpture. Another example of codified confusion over sex within religion.
A close-up of the face: undoubtedly something orgiastic is going on and these “ecstasies” must certainly represent sexuality subsumed into religion.
Naa, she just came back from Katz’s.
+ elebenty gazillon
Ha ha! And probably fainted because her corset was too tight like Victorian women.
I don’t know, that little boy in blue looks pretty hoity toity to me. 🙂
Hmmmm, doubt PCC got there from his downtown digs à pied. Subway or taxi?
Lovely metal work and colourful sculpture glazes!
Beautiful cats and a beautiful city. Thank you for these photos. I lived in the city last year for grad school, and I can’t wait to get back (it’s just far too expensive to live there full time!).
Also, best of luck tonight with the New Yorker venue! My cat Bella and I are pulling for your side.
There are but two possible outcomes: either cats will receive their due, or New Yorkers will demonstrate their profound lack of perceptual and cognitive abilities.
b&
Those Bengal cats are simply gorgeous!
I think ‘haughty’ works much better with arms folded.
The most famous representation of the ecstasy of St. Theresa is of course Bernini’s, in the Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome. One look tells you she’s experiencing the big “O”, but the standard religious interpretation is embodied in this quote: “Bernini employs imagery which suggests sensual pleasure, but only in order to convey the tangible nature of Teresa’s experience – a manifestation of her love of God and her yearning for spiritual union with him.”
St. Theresa herself said of her experience (according to a website): “He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and… to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God.”
And Billy Idol sang “In the midnight hour, she cried ‘more, more, more'”!
That “reptilian door knocker” clearly has wheel-and axle rear limbs. This could be a big break for the creationists if they could track down the organism which modeled for the sculpture.
Wasn’t there a big furor some time ago about a film in which some woman was shown masturbating with a crucifix? I forget the film, but remember the furor being described on a programme about the history of film censorship.
And cue … Rule 34.
I don’t remember anything about the film you’re mentioning, but see #21 on this list:
http://www.cracked.com/article_16032_the-25-most-disturbing-sex-toys.html
Cheers,
b&
The disturbing thing is when you wander into a friend’s apartment, carrying “half-gallons of wine and six-packs of beer” (name the lyricist?) and finding that it’s a struggle to find a flat surface to sit on which doesn’t sport one or more such … devices.
And in other news, once the 3d-printing scene becomes wider spread, you’re going to see a lot more of this sort of stuff, without the restraints of needing an audience of more than one.
“restraints” may not be the best word in the place above. Or maybe it is.
“Wider spread,” too….
b&
Today, all roads and byways of thought lead to Sithrak.
I prefer Cthulhu, myself. If you’re fortunate, you’ll not only be one of the first to go insane, you’ll be one of the first to be eaten, as well.
b&
As if being eaten alive would be the last of your worries.
I do wish that the rig’s hammerhead nightjars had been more photographically co-operative. They’ve got an admirably … concise … attitude to sophistry.
Are hammerheads really that eager to attack humans? For some reason, I was under the impression that they’re no more of a danger than most any other animal that size — not to be trifled with nor harassed, of course, but not something you have to run away from, either.
Either way, they’re certainly gorgeous…hope they show up for the next portrait session!
b&
I’m not aware that they’re particularly dangerous. But swimming is completely off the agenda regardless of the wildlife, for security reasons.
Ah — it’s the mammals you’re watching out for, and not the cetaceous variety…yes, those are the most dangerous animals of all….
b&
Got it in one. Hairless apes with guns. And internet access.